Dear Diary,
My teenage angst bullsh*t now has a body count. But what’s your damage, Heather? Is your name even Heather? Just in case it isn’t, Third Wall Productions has a whole bunch of them (three to be in fact) with their fiery production of the screen-to-stage musical Heathers, now playing through April 14th 2024. Directed by Jake Schwarts with Musical Direction by Anton Van De Motter and Choreography by Kelly Williams Carlson, this dark and twisted cult-classic-come-musical takes a ‘black humor’ approach to some of the real issues that plagued high school in the 80’s and puts a whole host of local talent on display in the process.
While the non-existent set is screaming minimalism beyond the pale, you almost don’t care for all the talent that’s being featured in this production. If there’s an issue— it’s sound balance. (This continues to be an uphill challenge as Third Wall Productions settles into their new home at Chestnut Grove Presbyterian; Heathers marks their fifth production in the space.) The orchestra, though masked from the staging area is in constant competition with the singers, who are mic’d, but every time we get a blast of sound from the performers on stage, the orchestra plays louder; the vicious circle of battling to be heard drowns out a lot of the lyrics despite the microphones and results in an uneven experience for those in the audience who don’t know the musical word for word. This aside, the orchestra (led by Anton Van De Motter and featuring William Zellhofer on keyboard, Kevin Clasing on bass, Winfield Clasing on drums, Eric Allard & Rachael Daudelin on violin, Darwin Ray on reed, David Fowler on trumpet, James Leitch on guitar) plays through the score with the vigorous gusto required to keep the music both motivating and moving. As the company grows to know the space, there is hope that the sound balancing issues will improve.
Where the show shines, in addition to all of the raw and radiant talent featured among the cast, is with its lighting design and costume work. Director Jake Schwartz, who doubles up as the show’s lighting designer, utilizes solid colored lighting and stillness to emphasize a plethora of moments throughout the performance which require emotional gravitas. And there’s also a balanced use of moving lights or color pops during appropriate musical numbers— particularly “My Dead Gay Son” coming to mind with the rainbow lighting on the back scrim and “Big Fun” which is a party number. Schwartz also utilizes subtle blue-freeze to enhance the ‘slow-motion’ effects put into place by Fight Choreographer Kiefer Cure during “Big Fun.” Cure’s fight choreography reads cleanly and effectively, even when slowed down for comedic effect. Costumer Sami Peterson nails the signature looks of Heathers with its eponymous characters in their iconic red, green, yellow (and Heather!Verionica in blue) couture, not only giving them the look but giving their overall stage presence an extra punch of pizazz. The breakaway away that Peterson uses for the ‘reveal’ during “Never Shut Up Again” is wild, which is why the breakaway outfit that gets used for the quick-change during “Beautiful” is somewhat of a disappointment. (The suggestion here is that given the staging is in total proscenium, never let Veronica show her back to the audience and then you don’t ‘see the makings’ of the illusion you reveal later.) Some of the 80’s inspired costumes among the ensemble have a vibe of “Gen-Z who researched what 80’s fashion looks like” but ultimately it creates the correct atmospheric vibe and Peterson’s work on Martha Dunnstock’s outfit is stunning; it ultimately highlights the disparity between ‘popularity’ and ‘uncool.’
The show’s choreography, arranged and executed by choreographer Kelly Williams Carlson, is vigorous though at times a bit intense— particularly “Never Shut Up Again.” This is the one number where ‘less is more’ might have read more cleanly, or least keeping Heather Duke still while the others dance around her, highlighting the core meaning behind the song, may have made for a stronger choice. Otherwise, Carlson’s choreography is fun and gels well with the beat and tempo of the music, particularly during “Candy Store” where you get a lot of hip-pops. Carlson works to highlight the strengths of the dancers in the cast, works well within the confines of the spatial challenges that the stage provides— particularly during “Shine a Light” and “My Dead Gay Son” and ultimately gives the audience something to enjoy whilst experiencing Heathers.
Some staging hiccups aside— particularly the ‘reveal’ (though I won’t say what; I refuse to spoil things) with the stage-right curtains towards the end of the production— Director Jake Schwartz has a solid vision for his interpretation of Heathers. Transforming the JD character to bring mental illness and mental wellness struggles to the forefront of the story-arch is a unique challenge but one that Schwartz handles well and it puts a different spin on the narrative as a whole, both deepening the bench of Veronica and JD’s relationship as well as forcing people to examine behavioral choices as they relate to ‘perceived villainy.’ It’s easy to take a show like Heathers and write-off JD as a ‘bad guy’ but with these subtle focal shifts, Schwartz is asking the audience and the cast to see the bigger picture and dig deeper. A curious and ponderous choice for sure, but not an unwelcome one, and certainly a well-executed one. Switching up the narrative in this fashion also brings humanizing empathy into the story, which adds to the tension and conflict which is reflected throughout the performance. Choosing to not play to the caricature stereotypes in both casting choices and stage presentations, you get a darker, grittier Heathers with Schwartz’ production, which is saying something considering the gravitational nature of the show to begin with.
It’s a small cast, with an ensemble of just seven and a handful of supporting characters to carry the ‘main five’ through all of the show’s tumultuous action. A balanced and well-blended ensemble (consisting of Alexa Sciuto, Bryan Thompson, Gabbi Anderson-Vidal, Daniel Terwilliger, Katy Gendron, Chloe Ellen Stewart, Ana Johns) lends solid sound (despite the orchestral imbalance) to group numbers like “Beautiful” and “The Me Inside of Me.” The doubled-up ‘adults’— including Zen Tabligan as Ms. Flemming/Vernoica’s Mother, Blake Martin as Kurt’s Dad/JD’s Dad/Coach Ripper, and Gabe Duque as Ram’s Dad/Veronica’s Dad/Principal— are also excellent additions to the cast. You get to hear Tabligan’s vocal prowess during “Shine a Light” and her hippie togs for that character are spot-on for an out-of-touch ‘older generation’ teacher. Martin and Duque do a superb job of subtly shifting between the toxic patriarchal stereotypes bestowed upon their various characters, particularly Martin who has to play the heinous bullying father of JD and the ‘learns-his-lesson’ tolerance father of Kurt. Hearing Martin belt it out during “My Dead Gay Son” is a wild phenomenon and watching Martin and Duque go hog-wild into the intensity of that number once it hits it stride is just amazing.
With vividly enticing facial expressions and all of the emotional gravitas that really has the audience pitying the character, Lanoree Blake tackles Martha Dunnstock brilliantly and really makes a star-track out of this ‘princess-support’ role. While the Martha Dunnstock character only pops up for a handful of moments throughout the performance, Blake is living lively in each and every one of them, making her character’s presence both felt and understood. She fills out that garish, childish costume to perfection, really settling into the awkward niche created for the character. And when she gets her solo, “Kindergarten Boyfriend”, you’re transported on an emotional journey that’s not unlike a drop-tower ride at an amusement park. Blake starts off all sincere and dorky, just burbling along through the number and then slams you down with huge vocals and the emotional switch from pleasant to disturbing depression; it’s sensational.
Dingus and Doodle— aka Kurt (Scott Armiger) and Ram (Jehan Silva)— are the epitome of ‘gross guys’ from high school. Everything that’s wrong and inappropriate, culminating in the zenith of toxic masculinity is brought to the forefront of their performance and drizzled with a fine mist of bad humor that just makes these two utterly revolting to watch (in the best way possible) and yet you just can’t stop watching them. Both Armiger and Silva have excellent physicality on stage, especially during the slow-motion fight choreography and Armiger’s facial expressions in particular are a hilarious scream to die for. They ‘dude-bro’ up their vocal affectations, sing loud and clear during their featured number, “You’re Welcome”, and make a grand show of being comfortable in their own skin, running around for more than half the performance in just underwear.
It wouldn’t be Heathers without Heather Duke (Sami Peterson), Heather McNamara (Emily Crawford) and of course Heather Chandler (Maddie Saldaña.) The original ‘Mean Girls’ circa 1988! Peterson is seriously bringing her A-game to the table with unrelenting Resting Bitch Face from curtain up to curtain down and you can feel that bitter-bitch attitude radiating off of her in waves from jump-street. There’s a ferocity and tenacity that finally roars out of Peterson’s character when she gets to “Never Shut Up Again” which gives the audience a chance to see her in all of her performative glory and it’s impressive. Channeling more of the ‘Karen Smith’ Mean Girls flavor into her particular Heather, Emily Crawford as Heather McNamara is equal parts shiny gem and blasting dynamite. Starting her big solo feature, “Lifeboat” with a clean, clear sound you get the sense that she has a striking depth of emotions to plomb. When Crawford hits her stride in this number its exquisitely catastrophic, like an emotional tsunami finally breaking free, complete with hyper-expressive facial features that really showcase her as a radiant diamond for this production.
Extreme always seems to make an impression and Maddie Saldaña is about as extreme as it gets when it comes to her portrayal of Heather Chandler. With a devastating level of bitch-supreme, Saldaña slams the role of Heather Chandler into the wall and makes it her bitch. There’s an indescribably command that she presents when strutting across the stage, when snapping at her ‘friends’, when barking out orders, and the vocal prowess that comes to bat when she sings in both “Beautiful” and “Candy Store” is stunning. Of course Saldaña’s true moment in the scorching hot limelight comes during “The Me Inside of Me” where there’s high-end antics of the physical variety as Saldaña struts, double-drops, and peacocks her way through the number and its epic, in addition to getting a bit of that insanely talented belting capability. It’s 100% the attitude that Saldaña brings to the stage that enables her to own that role and make it work for her, really dominating every step of her performance and its fantastic.
Their love is God. If God is a toxic and unstable reactor core about to implode at any given moment. JD (Cameron Walker) and Veronica Sawyer (Molly McVicker) have this visceral chemistry that is a level of unhinged which tops the charts. This is augmented by the way Walker embraces the mental instability focal lens that Director Jake Schwartz has layered over the character arc and storyline of JD and when you see them reacting to one another— particularly at times during “Our Love is God” and “I Say No.” That raw, unadulterated emotional struggle that gets strung between them is exponentially more intense than any ‘more traditional’ performance of Heathers I’ve seen and it’s a gut-punch of pathos that is both unrelenting and oddly cathartic.
As JD, Cameron Walker is bringing this superbly portrayed imbalance of mental-health struggles to the forefront of his portrayal. There is an unyielding sense of internalization that is frenetic and perpetually present, even when he’s just existing on the sidelines of any given scene; you can feel his inner monologue churning and whirring, you can sense this palpable struggle undulating out from inside of his mind, wafting over the audience like a thick, all-consuming fog before a storm. “Freeze Your Brain” felt a little off as delivered the night I saw it and I can’t tell if that’s an intentional step to warming up to the full-blown mental instability of the character or just opening nerves that pinched Walker’s vocal range because when he belt blasted his way through “Our Love is God”, “Seventeen”, and “Meant to Be Yours” it’s like watching and hearing a completely different but totally phenomenal performer. There’s a striking beauty in the vocal blends and harmonizing that happens between Walker and McVicker during “Our Love is God” not to mention an emotional tenacity that just consumes them both in that duet. Watching the deliberate expression of his mental-illness struggles during “17” is enthralling because he portrays it so authentically. It’s a powerhouse performance overall and it’s one that Cameron Walker nails unequivocally.
Dear Diary, where has Molly McVicker been stashed away all our lives? Because this girl is a triple-threat and a half and it seems unfathomable that this role right here— Veronica Sawyer in Heathers— is her first real main-stage leading breakout. How does one keep that much talent stuffed away unnoticed!? In a knockout stunning sensation of a performance, McVicker slays the role of Veronica Sawyer and has the audience jaw-dropping itself every time she opens her mouth to belt. This girl is all in, all the way, and we are here for it! It’s more than just a queen beltress literally belting her face off when it comes to McVicker’s performance, though; there’s nuance and subtly and emotional sensationalism in addition to staunch character work that makes her own the role and essentially the show. The balance of sarcasm verses sincerity is on point beyond compare. And she’s got an astonishing understanding of both her character’s spatial awareness in relation to others on the stage in a physical and an emotional sense. From the word go, McVicker is serving up musical theatre genius and you want to hop on board her deranged, insane roller-coaster tour of this story. There are so many moments throughout the performance to be impressed with when it comes to McVicker’s vocal command, emotional expressive capabilities, even just her responsive silence when it comes to interacting with others and playing the moment truthfully elevated. But the one that is such a land-mine for me is the total and utter reclamation of “I Say No.” The back half of this song becomes a moment of total emotional annihilation with ferocious vocal blasts that just slay the song until it lays down dead, winning McVicker a well-deserved ovation. It’s goosebump-inducing and spine-chilling. The gut-wrenching anguish that she delivers during “17” both looks and feels painful; an impressive feat to accomplish from a proscenium stage. And holy toledo, when she goes to town for “Dead Girl Walking”, McVicker there is a terrifying tenacity and viciously liberal intensity that just bowls the audience over like Vesuvius erupting. The belt at the end of that number that McVicker delivers is nothing short of stellar. Wholly encompassing everything one could ever hope to achieve with the Veronica Sawyer character, Molly McVicker is setting that stage on fire with her performance and it is one that must not be missed.
Come on, pillowcases, let’s go. Did you hear me? I said— let’s motor! You’ve got one weekend left to get your tickets to see Heathers at Third Wall Productions. Move it or lose it! And while you’re at it— somebody find out where/how you can get those awesome little light-up scrunchies from “Shine A Light”, mmkay, pillowcases?
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
Heathers plays through April 14th 2024 at Third Wall Productions, in residence at Chestnut Grove Presbyterian Church— 3701 Sweet Air Road in Phoenix, MD. Tickets are available by at the door or in advance online.
